Final answer:
To justify that a specimen is living, it must exhibit fundamental characteristics such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, response to stimuli, and adaptation. The panspermia hypothesis suggests life could have originated from space. When examining extraterrestrial materials, scientists look for unique isotopic signatures or molecular structures that could indicate alien life.
Step-by-step explanation:
The subject of the question is biology, specifically the characteristics of living organisms and the concept of abiogenesis. The alien in the scenario from Roswell, NM may mistakenly beam up an inanimate object, mistaking it for a living organism. To determine if an organism is indeed living, biologists look for certain characteristics such as metabolism, growth, response to stimuli, reproduction, and adaptation. To justify that the specimen taken is living, the alien would need to observe these characteristics. For instance, it should metabolize nutrients, grow, reproduce, respond to environment changes, and adapt over time.
Regarding the origin of life on Earth, one hypothesis is panspermia, suggesting that life can be distributed across the universe on meteoroids and could have come to Earth this way. This theory aligns with the notion that organic building blocks can be extraterrestrial in origin. Scientists examining rocks from space can look for specific isotopic signatures or enantiomeric ratios in organic compounds that differ from those typically found on Earth, suggesting an extraterrestrial origin.
The Viking landers' experiments on Mars looked for evidence of life by testing martian soil for respiration, nutrient absorption, and changes in gas exchange. These principles can similarly be applied to assess if a specimen has life signs. However, the presence of organic material alone does not confirm life; it must be part of a system showing life characteristics.